Want a Baby Someday? How to Preserve Your Fertility

If you're thinking about getting pregnant later in life, you need to take certain steps right now to help keep your body in peak baby-making shape

Want a Baby Someday? How to Preserve Your FertilityIf you're thinking about getting pregnant later in life, you need to take certain steps right now to help keep your body in peak baby-making shape

Considering you probably spend a good amount of energy trying to block conception, it's kind of odd to think about preparing yourself for a day when you might want to raise the gate to your reproductive system and having a baby. Maybe you're not at that point now—you're happily putting in long hours at a job you love, you're still enjoying being able to jump in the car for a road trip on a moment's notice, or you just haven't yet found a guy who's worthy of mixing his DNA with yours. But you'd still like to think that if the baby jones hits you like a ton of bricks, pregnancy over 40 won't be a problem.

Yet everywhere you look, an article or book (or even your own mom!) is there to remind you that your fertility drops every year you wait. You probably know the scary stats: Women reach their reproductive peak in their twenties, and by age 35, the risk of infertility jumps to 22 percent. But before you start Googling egg freezing (by the way, that's still experimental, and only a tiny number of babies have been born from frozen eggs), keep in mind that every woman's biological clock is different. Some women can get pregnant easily at 40, while others run into problems as early as their twenties. And while you can't stop the clock on the most important fertility factor—your age—there are plenty of lifestyle changes you can make now to up your odds of getting pregnant later.

If you want to get pregnant in five years...

See your doctor. If you want to keep your body baby-ready, staying in top physical shape is essential. That means getting any fertility-sapping health issues—like diabetes, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), or endometriosis—under control; diagnosing and treating STDs; and devising a healthy diet and exercise plan. If you're past 35 and wondering whether you have the option of waiting a few more years, you can also ask your doc to do a little detective work on what's known as your ovarian reserve.

"All women are born with a certain number of eggs, and you lose them over your reproductive life span," explains Michael Soules, M. D., medical director of Seattle Reproductive Medicine. "At some point— about 10 years before the onset of menopause— the number drops to a level where your fertility is compromised." But there are fertility tests that can gauge how many eggs are still sitting on the bench waiting for their turn at bat. The best ones are an ultrasound to count the number of follicles in your ovaries and a blood test to check your hormone levels at certain points in your cycle. These tests, which Soules says are usually covered by insurance—check with your plan to make sure—can't guarantee that you're fertile (too many other factors come into play). But they can tell you how loudly your clock is ticking and whether you need to consider speeding up your schedule.

>Brush and floss. Could something as simple as flossing your teeth help keep you fertile? Perhaps. "Several studies have indicated that a woman's oral health may be related to her reproductive success," says Susan Karabin, D. D. S., a spokesperson for the American Academy of Periodontology. In one study, women who needed fertility treatments had higher levels of gum bleeding and inflammation than those who conceived naturally, the Journal of Periodontology reports. "Brush and floss every day and get a professional cleaning and exam every six months," advises Karabin, who adds that not smoking and avoiding sugary foods and drinks are also key to keeping your teeth and gums healthy.

>Practice safe sex. You wouldn't think condoms would come up in a conversation about getting pregnant, but safe sex can be a crucial factor in your future ability to get knocked up. If you contract an STD such as gonorrhea or chlamydia (which could be in your system without causing symptoms) and it goes untreated, it can lead to a serious condition called pelvic inflammatory disease, which can scar the fallopian tubes, causing infertility. So get tested regularly—and make sure your partners do, too.

>Stamp out cigarettes. If higher rates of lung cancer and breast cancer haven't made you swear off smoking, consider this: The American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) estimates that lighting up is linked to 13 percent of infertility cases. Tobacco messes with your fertility in all kinds of ways: It makes your eggs deteriorate faster than they naturally would with age, increases your risk of early miscarriage and ectopic pregnancy (a dangerous condition in which the egg implants in your fallopian tubes or ovaries instead of your uterus), and can bring on early menopause (up to four years earlier, compared with nonsmokers). Plus, if you wind up needing in vitro fertilization (IVF), smoking will reduce your chances of success by 34 percent. The encouraging news, though, is that once you do quit smoking, your fertility level will return to normal in about a year (considering that it takes the average puffer two to four tries before quitting for good, you should start trying to kick the habit well before that). While you're at it, recruit your partner, parents, and friends to quit with you: A recent study in Tobacco Control found that women who were exposed to secondhand smoke six or more hours a day as adults were 36 percent more likely to have trouble getting pregnant.

>Take your vitamins. "Every woman of reproductive age—even if you're not actively trying to get pregnant—should take a multivitamin containing folic acid," says Jorge Chavarro, M. D., an instructor at Harvard Medical School and co-author of The Fertility Diet" According to Chavarro, folic acid appears to improve fertility by stimulating ovulation and giving an embryo essential proteins needed for survival. His research also found that women who took iron supplements were 40 percent less likely to have fertility problems, so look for a vitamin with at least 40 milligrams of iron and 400 micrograms of folic acid, and get in the habit of downing the pill every morning.